Excellence in Doctoral Research Award

About this program

The Social Policy Association offers the Excellence in Doctoral Research Award to recognise outstanding single‑authored doctoral papers that advance the study of social policy; winner(s) receive £250. Eligible submissions must be single‑authored papers by current doctoral students who were postgraduate SPA members at the time of submission, directly related to social policy, unpublished and not under consideration, and presented at the most recent SPA PGR Conference or SPA Annual Conference with the full paper uploaded to the conference system in advance. Papers are assessed for excellence in social policy scholarship, their capacity to challenge existing understanding and engage readers, contribution to research/teaching/practice/theoretical agendas, and the rigour of research design, methodology and evidence. A shortlist is selected by PGR Conference organisers and the SPA judging panel evaluates nominations and recommends the award.